REST APIs, or RESTful APIs, are interfaces that enable interaction between different software applications following the REST architectural principles. REST, which stands for Representational State Transfer, is an architectural style that utilizes a stateless communication protocol, typically HTTP. This style dictates that web services should be scalable, simple, and stateless, and separate the concerns of client and server.

How REST APIs Operate

REST APIs operate by using standard HTTP methods, such as GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE. These methods correspond to create, read, update, and delete (or CRUD) operations, respectively.

• GET requests are used to retrieve resources.

• POST requests create new resources.

• PUT and PATCH requests modify existing resources.

• DELETE requests remove resources.

Each request from a client to a server is stateless, meaning it contains all the information the server needs to fulfill the request. Responses from the server are typically in the form of resources, such as HTML, XML, JSON, or plain text.